


The Skull And The Heart

by Taikanaakka



Series: The Past and the Present [1]
Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls Online
Genre: Beginnings, Daggerfall, Daggerfall Covenant, Gen, High Rock, Linnea - Freeform, Past, Skooma, Tattoos, Thief, breton - Freeform, elder scrolls online - Freeform, new life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-08 21:28:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15252414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taikanaakka/pseuds/Taikanaakka
Summary: It's a winter's night in the city of Daggerfall, and a beggar and a guard that is standing on his post at the city gates end up having a conversation. This story mixes the past and present events so that the parts telling the past are separated with three lines ( --- ) from the events that take place in the presence.





	The Skull And The Heart

An unkempt Breton man who is wearing dirty, ragged clothes approaches a city guard who is standing in his post, keeping watch at the city gates.

"Hey, do you have a coin to spare for a poor beggar? I'm starving, I really need that gold not to die from hunger," he asks, sounding desperate.

The guard looks the man into the eyes - noticing that his pupils are small, despite that it is night - and replies: "No. You'd use it to buy skooma, and I'm not funding that - but I'll bring you something to eat when my shift's over."

"Thanks...I guess," the beggar replies, sounding a bit astonished, because the guard appears to be so indifferent about having noticed him using that illegal substance, not having even threatened to arrest him because of that. Encouraged by his lack of judgement, the beggar adds: "But please...I need the coin. If I don't get...that stuff...I'll feel so terribly ill."

"If you don't quit using skooma, you'll die. You know that, right?" the guard warns him.

"I'll die in any case. Sooner or later we all die," the beggar replies.

"Aye, true," the guard admits and is silent for a moment - and then states: "But before that we have to live our lives on Nirn and that's what matters. And your life matters, too. Don't let skooma take it before it would really have to end." For a while neither of them says anything, and then the beggar states:

"I've done bad things in my life."

"I guess there's no man on Tamriel who wouldn't have some stains on his soul," the guard reckons calmly.

 

\---

A young Breton man sat at a corner of a room-like space in the Outlaws Refuge of Evermore, the base and residence for most of the lowlife of that city located in the Eastern part of High Rock. He was sharpening his weapons, a large machete and a dagger; he often preferred to sit there in the shadows and observe others from distance, instead of socializing with the other outlaws that were hanging at the "lounge".

He felt the tingling sensation in his right forearm; he rolled up his sleeve and took a look at his new tattoo there. His half-brother had made it for him, and the clumsily drawn but clearly recognizable picture of a human skull was sensitive to touch and that area of the skin was slightly swollen and reddish. The two lines drawn under the skull represented the two people whose lives he had just taken - his first two kills so far. When he had told his brother about the heist that had gone wrong, he had sarcastically declared that his little brother was not a milk drinker anymore and they should celebrate it; thus, his brother had fetched some ink and a needle to mark the event on his skin. Even though his brother appeared to think that he wanted to brag about what he had done, he was actually somewhat shocked about what had happened.

He thought that he should be - if not happy - at least extremely content about the outcome of that job he had finished; he had gotten his share of the deal and he did not remember that he ever before had had so much gold of his own. However, the memory of those damned fools falling lifeless onto the ground did not seem to leave him alone, despite he tried to push the unpleasant thoughts about them aside and simply forget what he had done to them.

He had broken into a rather wealthy house to steal the precious, unusual gems for a client. The job had gone pretty well, he had found the gems easily enough, and he had also taken a nice amount of gold from the safebox - but when he had been about to leave, the owners of the house had appeared from somewhere and seen him; they had been no fighters and had been seemingly terrified by seeing a burglar in their home. He had worn a mask and a hood so that they had not seen his face, and they most likely could not have stopped him from escaping - but he had panicked by the unexpected encounter with the owners that were not supposed to be at home, and he had ended up attacking on them. The poor souls had not even tried to fight back, being frozen from shock.

He reckoned that perhaps skooma would help him to get into the right mood to celebrate his success - just a tiny amount would make him relax and chase away all the unpleasant thoughts of the mess the heist had ended in. He would not use it so much this time that he would get wasted...

The voice of a young Redguard man awakened him from his thoughts, asking: "Hey, you've got some skooma to sell?"

"Aye, I've got some bottles left," he replied him and turned his attention to the man and his friend that were standing in front of him. They were even younger than he was and they were not yet his regular customers but he knew that soon they would be hooked to that substance. He had seen it happening to so many that he had decided to quit using skooma before the same would happen to him; he was not stupid, so he would not have to do the same mistakes himself that he had seen others making. It was always so miserable to witness that poison taking control over its users and wrecking their lives - but on the other hand, it was not his concern how others decided to suffer their lifelong sentences on Nirn. Besides, skooma addicts granted him and his brother a solid source of income.

"I'll sell it to you for 200 gold this time. Next time you'll have to pay more," he said as he handed the bottle to the Redguard. When he was giving the coin to him, they heard a cruel laughter and a faint squeal; when he turned to look at the direction where the noise came from, he saw that his brother was dragging someone with him, shouting insults and intimidations. He knew instantly that he had been drinking heavily again, and therefore the smartest thing to do would be to stay as far from that towering, short-tempered half-Nord as possible. However, his brother had already noticed him and approached him, dragging a female Covenant Guard with him.

"Hey, look what I found stumbling in the tunnels near the Refuge!" his brother said, staring at the woman like a predator stares at his prey and squeezed hard her arm through the weak part of her armour; that looked really painful but she remained silent. He saw the frightening, hollow gaze in his brother's eyes and the look on his face that he had always feared so greatly. Only one wrong word or gesture could make him lose his tempers, and that would hurt greatly the person whose presence had annoyed him. He could never forget how his brother had got mad at their sister in that drunken state and beaten her up badly.

"What was she doing there?" he asked, trying to sound laid back.

"How in Oblivion would I know that? But that stupid bitch is not gonna stumble there again, hah!" his brother replied. He looked at the woman and saw the utter fear in her eyes, despite she clearly did her best not to let her terror show.

He quickly turned his gaze away from her and asked his brother: "Are you going to...kill her, then?" even though he thought he knew the answer to the question already.

"Nope, I'm gonna let her run away to tell her boss about the Refuge - are you a bloody idiot? Of course I'll kill her! But not before I've had a lil’ bit fun with her," his brother replied.

He did not want to think about what having fun would mean to her - to his own surprise he cried out: "You don't have to kill her!" and continued: "You know that the Captain knows about us and this place already - he just lets us be cos he doesn't wanna have a full war with the guild!"

His brother stared at him surprised for a moment and then replied amused: "Oh, little Willie is in love with this wench! Don't worry brother, I'll let you fuck her, too, when I'm done - or you can fuck her corpse, if she doesn't last that long," and laughed coldly. The Redguard and his friend laughed, too; they feared and admired his brother and wanted to show their loyalty to him whenever they could.

He felt physically ill; surely the guards were kind of their enemies but his brother was going too far now - like he had gone too far when he had battered their sister. He should have tried to stop him from beating her, instead of hiding in the corner, turning to look away from them and covering his ears to make her screaming stop. It had been his mistake that had angered their brother but she had taken the blame of it to protect him from their brother's rage.

_He heard the noise of the shattering glass when his brother threw the dining table over and the empty bottles fell on the floor. "Stay out of this, Willie! Run away and get someone to help!" his sister shouted to him - but he just hid there in the corner, being frozen from shock. The door was close but the distance there seemed overwhelmingly long. He heard her screaming of pain and begging for mercy and him yelling enraged; he did not even dare to take a look at what was happening. He should have done something to help her - but instead he just stood there helplessly and covered his ears to make her screaming stop._

"Let her go!" he yelled at his big brother - _this time he would not let him hurt her_.

"I don't think so," took a step towards him and warned: "You're starting to piss me off."

"Let her go, now, or - " he shouted desperately.

"Or what?" his brother asked and clenched his huge fist.

" _I won’t let you hurt her ever again_!" he cried out.

A moment later he stared at the corpses of his big brother and the other two men; there was a bloody mess on the floor and he heard his guildmates' voices. Everything had happened so fast that he could not remember much of it. His machete and dagger were covered with blood, and at the beginning of the fight, the woman had broken free from his brother's grasp and managed to get her sword back - her blade was also crimson-coloured.

"We need to get out of here now!" she stated.

"Follow me," he said; he took her hand so that she would not get separated from him in the mazed, dark tunnels through which they would have to make their escape.

\---

 

The beggar and the guard notice that someone is walking towards the gates; soon they recognize her to be the Hero of Daggerfall, the mage who saved the King's life, when the Bloodthorn bandits tried to assassinate him and capture Daggerfall. She greets the guard, since they know each other; she is the girlfriend of an officer of the City Guard, and the officer is the guard's close friend. The beggar goes away, since he has always considered mages to be somewhat creepy; with only a wave of hand, they could create horrible, unnatural destruction around them.

"Oh, hello, Linnea! Why do you want to go outside of the walls at small hours?" the guard asks her.

"Well, I have urgent things to take care of there...unfortunately I can't tell more about it," she replies.

"Very well...but should I be aware of something? Anything I could help with?" he asks a bit concerned; he knows that she does mercenary-like work for the King and Captain Aresin, who is the head of the City Guard.

"Oh, no. This is my personal business," she states to him, looking slightly startled by his questions.

"Okay, I understand, you don't have to open it up for me if you don't want to," he replies quickly. Probably it is for the best that he does not know more about her personal matters - he has his own secrets, too. She seems relieved that he does not ask more questions; she wishes him goodnight and leaves the city, and the guard is alone with his thoughts again.

 

\---

 

"Thanks for saving my life," the woman said to him, when they had made it out of the tunnels, back to the surface and were catching their breath. They stood close to the city walls and there were Covenant guards - her comrades - patrolling nearby. "You're bleeding," she noticed and pointed at his right forearm.

"Aye," he replied.

"Let's go to my place, I'll check the wound there," she suggested.

"Nah, it's alright, it can't be very deep because it doesn't bleed that much," he replied but she stated: "It must be cleansed or it'll fester," and soon he noticed that he was following her into the city.

"Hey, you can't be serious about taking me there!" he objected when he realized that she was living in the place where the guards and soldiers rested when their shifts were over. She just laughed a bit and reassured him:

"Don't worry, I'm not throwing you into the jail or anything, come with me - just let me take care of speaking, alright?" Since he was extremely confused and shocked about everything that had taken place in his life, he just nodded and did as she said - and, indeed he did not have any other place to go now.

"Hey, what kinda skeever are you hanging with this time? I didn't know that you could drop your standards any lower - that guy even looks like as if you had dragged him here straight from the sewers below the city!" one of his comrades commented about him to her - not intending to be unfriendly but just playfully taunting her, and their comrades laughed.

"I never shout out my opinions about the wenches you guys bring here, so just shut up," she scolded him back and smirked.

"Hah, fair enough," her comrade replied and smiled amused. She subtly took some bandages and clear water and took him to her room.

When he stepped in, he looked around. Her room was small but tidy; everything was clean and her belongings were all in their right places, nothing was laying on the floor or on the chair. He admired the interiors amazed - he did not remember if he had ever been in such a tidy but at the same time cozy little home.

"Now it's clean, luckily it isn't so very deep," she said to him when she had tied up the wound with clean bandages; then she noticed his newest tattoo that was below the wound, close to his wrist and stated:

"The person who did this clearly doesn't show any artistic talent."

"My brother made it," he replied silently, and added: "He definitely isn't - wasn't an artist."

"Wait, was that...thug...your brother?" she asked. He nodded and she said: "Oh, I'm...sorry for your loss. Were you close?"

"Aye," he replied - then he thought about her question for a while and explained: "He was important to me, I guess but I don’t how much he cared about me - or about anyone besides himself. On the other hand, he did beat those bastards that were bullying me into submission back then. But well, he kinda always became a monster when he was drunk...and he drank very often."

"And now the tattoo reminds you of him," she said pitifully.

"It also reminds me of something else," he said - and for some reason revealed her: "The two marks there, they symbol the innocent people I accidentally killed," looking perhaps somewhat regretful. Against his expectations, she was not startled by what he had stated.

She stared at him for a while and then fetched a quill and some ink; she rolled up his left sleeve and drew a heart and a line under it. He looked at her confused, and she explained: "It symbols the life you saved today."

"Mind if I change into my civilian clothes now?" she asked him but did not wait for his answer. She took off her uniform, let her hair loose, took a neatly folded, clean dress from her drawer and dressed it on her. He gazed at her for a moment and then awkwardly tried to compliment her:

"You look much prettier in that dress than in that...armour." She laughed slightly amused and he added a bit clumsily: "Ehm, I mean, you do look pretty...very pretty."

"It's quite warm in here - you must feel hot in your leather armour..." she said and extinguished the candle on the table; Masser and Secunda cast their pale light into the room through the window so that it was not very dark, nevertheless.

"Aye," he replied. He wished he had clean clothes under his lightly armoured gear; doing the laundry had never been the top priority in his guild - or rather, in his ex-guild now.

"What are you going to do now?" she asked him when they were sitting on her bed, drinking mead and eating the food she had fetched for them.

"I dunno," he replied and shrugged.

"You can't go back there," she stated, and assumed: "You'll have to leave this city. I won't stay here for a long time anymore, either, I guess."

"Why?" he wondered.

"I'm pretty sure that I'll get a transfer to an operation in another place soon."

"Could I come with you?" he asked but she smiled at him and said:

"Nope. It's far away from here...in Cyrodiil. Nobody knows what it's about - but it means pretty likely a certain promotion for those who return from there, so I volunteered."

"I guess I'll have to leave, aye - but I don’t know where to go," he said.

She thought about the matter for a while and then suggested: "My uncle is an officer in the Daggerfall City Guard. I'll write him a letter, you can give it to him. He'll help you out."

"Are you sure?"

"You saved my life, he'll return the favour for you when he finds out about it," she convinced him.

They were standing at the docks, wishing their farewells; she had bought him a passage to Daggerfall, even though he had tried to assure her that he could very well get himself there without her help.

"Why do you care about my fate?" he wondered.

"You saved my life, I owe you," she replied and then added: "Besides, I think you're cute!" and gave him a little kiss onto his cheek. Before they parted ways, she said to him: "I know that you've done some bad things for sure - but this is your second chance. Don't screw it up!"

The fresh sea air blew his hair as he stood on the deck of the ship that had just begun its voyage to Daggerfall. Everything had happened so fast that it all felt surreal to him, as if he was having an extremely strange dream - or like his life was a bad but yet somewhat hilarious joke. He laughed by himself; without breaking the signet on it, he had opened the letter she had advised him to give to her uncle and had peeked into its contents. She had suggested her uncle that he should take him to serve in his troops - she had to be out of her mind! Instead of that silly idea to become a city guard, he planned to become a sailor - or better still, a pirate! He had also overheard some shady-looking men talking about a place called Hew's Bane and the opportunities for skilled thieves to get rich in there. He opened the map of Tamriel he had acquired from a wall of a cabin to find out where that place was.

After the ship had sailed in a slightly stormier weather, he had given up on his plans to sail the seas; the sea sickness was even worse experience than his hangovers had ever been!

\---

 

"Back already? Good, because there are plenty of wolves in this region, even near the city, now," the guard greets the Hero of Daggerfall, as he notices her returning - he does not really expect wolves to pose a serious threat to such a powerful mage, though.

"They always say so...but actually I've never had to deal with any of them," she replies him. "By the way, have you noticed a shady Imperial man here in the city? He is a wizard, so maybe he's also dressed like such,"

Now he anticipates that her personal matter is rather an assignment from the Crown than a concern of her own.

"Actually, I have. A couple of days ago, I saw an Imperial guy...he got me suspicious right away. I'd have preferred not to allow him to enter but of course I could do nothing about him, I had no proof that he's gotten involved in something illegal," he answers - he is extremely good at recognizing potential criminals, "So you're after him, right...can I ask why?"

She reveals him that the Imperial wizard is a Worm Cult spy, and states that she must quickly but discreetly take care of him before he could cause havoc in the city; he assumes that the wizard most likely is residing in an abandoned house in the city. He asks his comrade to take his post and they go to the abandoned house together. The door of the house is for some reason locked, and she tries to pick the lock but does not seem to succeed in that.

The guard looks around to make sure that nobody is watching,

"Let me do that for you." He takes the lock pick from her, and easily picks the lock. "There you go."

"Wow, that was quick...but how in Oblivion have you learnt to pick a lock?" she wonders aloud.

"Well, the main thing is that it's open now. Let's go inside," he says.

"I'd like you to stay here and keep watch so that nobody enters this house after me.”

"But shouldn't you have someone to watch your back in there?" he asks a bit concerned.

"I'd love to...but as I said, this is kind of a personal business, so I'd prefer to go and face the spy alone,” she explains. “Besides, there is a great risk of collateral damage, if two powerful mages end up in a duel, as you should have learnt, if you paid any attention in my lectures during the training sessions Captain Aresin arranged," she continues, smiling deviously.

"Aye...I'll stay here, then, and make sure that nobody follows you in there," he promises; probably she was right, and he would only be on her way, if they ended up in a fight against the Imperial wizard.

Soon he sees her returning to him; she asks him to come to help her to get into the cellar, since she cannot pick the lock of the cellar door, either. He examines the door for a while - then he pulls it open.

"It wasn’t locked, just tight." He gives the lock pick back to her and jokes to her: "You know it's not legal to carry these around like that, not to mention to use them to trespass a house - but if you won't tell anyone that I picked the lock, I won't arrest you for this. And I don't have to know where you got these in the first place."

She laughs a bit and jokes back: "Oh, that's so nice of you! I hope that Alex won't find this and arrest me, either!" They continue chatting for a while, and then she goes down to the cellar to hunt down the Imperial wizard - there seems to be a secret tunnel, there - and he asks her to be careful out there.

The guard thinks about her attempts to break into the house and into the cellar - she clearly seems to know what she is doing with the lock picks, even if she could not open the lock - and wonders what kind of background she has. He has noticed how she subtly evades the questions of her past and discreetly leads the conversation to another topic, since he does exactly the same things himself. However, he thinks: "The main thing is that we both are on this side now. Her past doesn't matter, and neither does mine."

 

\---

For some reason still totally incomprehensible to him, he eventually found himself standing in front of her uncle, in the practicing grounds of the City Guard; maybe he would help him in some way, even if he doubted that he would even think about taking him as a recruit. Her uncle read the letter he gave him, then he took a long look at him.

"We start training the new recruits tomorrow, show up in here when the sun rises."

"By Sheogorath's Madness!" he cried out shocked and blurted out. "I'm a thief, she certainly didn't tell that in the letter but you should've been able to figure out that this isn't a good idea, based on what she wrote about me - yes, I read the letter myself, after she had sealed it."

The officer wanted to know more about his past, and even if he thought he might throw him into jail, he ended up opening about his past - only without mentioning the lives he had taken. The officer remained silent for some time.

"As I said, come here tomorrow morning so you get to start the training with others." He simply said.

"What in Oblivion is wrong with everyone? Why would you recruit a thief and a skooma dealer?" he exclaimed, thinking that both the officer and his niece had to be out of their minds.

"You saved my niece's life, even if it meant putting your own to risk, despite the fact that you didn't even know her. That tells something about you. Besides, you openly talked to me about your past; after all, I know nothing about any recruit's background, they could easily enough lie anything," he calmly stated.

"Alright, alright...but I just can't understand why you care so much about my fate," he wondered.

"You remind me of someone I know," The man replied.

In the morning he stood at the training grounds with the other recruits, listening to the Captain and his officers speaking.

"Everyone who has received the basic military training, step forward," the Captain ordered. He noticed that most them had a military background. He did not take a step himself since he had not finished his training. He had gone to the army with his brother but his brother had screwed it up by drinking and getting into fights, and so he had gotten them kicked out – his brother had also dragged him into the troubles caused by his behaviour.

Then the officer that would train the recruits who had not completed the basic military training asked them to find a training partner, since they would start practicing with swords right away. He looked around and saw a fair-haired Breton lad who looked as lost as he felt. That lad seemed to have noticed him, too, since he came to him and asked him to be his partner.

"Hi, I'm Olivier," he presented himself, and asked: "Who are you?"

"I'm William," he replied.

"You’re quite good with the sword already," Olivier said to him when they were having a break, "What did you do before you came here?"

He got slightly startled by his question but quickly replied. "Well, I used to obtain stuff and make gold by selling it - ehm, I mean, I was a...trader, aye. But it didn't go very well...and what did you do, then?"

"I'm a farmer's son...but I'm the youngest, so my big brothers will get the farm, so I had to come up with something else to make living of," he said.

He was surprised when he realized that he really liked his new life as a recruit in the City Guard. He had even gotten rather good friends during such a short period of time - in fact, he had never had so close friends during all the time he had spent in the Outlaw's Refuge. However, in the day before they would take the oath, he started to feel that he was about to make a big mistake; the whole thought about becoming a city guard instead of being a thief and a skooma dealer started to feel entirely absurd to him. He thought he would have to undo this terrible mistake while he still could - he would leave for Hew's Bane at once!

He still had a bottle of skooma with him; he would sell it to some addict at the docks, then he would have enough gold for the passage to Hew's Bane. He was standing at the dock and gazing into the horizon, still hesitating the decision he had made. Suddenly he heard familiar voice asking him:

"Are you feeling nervous about taking the oath, too? ‘Cos damn it, I am! What if I won't do well enough in this career?" and noticed that Olivier was standing behind him.

"Aye, I am, too. And you'll be doing just fine," he replied him and smiled a bit.

"I'm going to fishing to the beach nearby to calm my nerves," he told and asked him: "Would you like to join my company? I could make another rod for you in no time."

"Aye...thanks for the invitation. I'll come there soon, I just need to take care of something first," he promised.

When Olivier had gone, he took the skooma bottle from his pocket and opened it - then he threw it into the sea as far away from the shore as he could and watched the waves swallowing it. He would not screw up the second chance he had gotten.

At the dawn of his first working day, he walked to the castle of Daggerfall to report to his officer - who was the same man that had taken him as a recruit. He looked different now from the last time they had met: he had let his hair grow so long that he could tie it up into a tidy ponytail so that it would not hang partially in front of his face and now he took care of that his face was always shaven clean, apart from the small strand of beard on his chin that he kept there not to feel so bare without any facial hair. He had also asked the local tailor to change and cover his old tattoos. Instead of the symbol of his former guild, he now had a large symbol of the Daggerfall Covenant tattooed on his chest, and instead of the figure of Nocturnal, he now had the symbol of Stendarr tattooed on his deltoid muscle. He had also hidden the Daedric scripts written on his lower back with other tattoos, since he no longer found them cool but embarrassing instead. He had not covered the skull tattoo his brother had made him - but he had taken a permanent version of the heart that the lass from the Covenant guard had drawn onto his left forearm.

"I'm coming to duty, sir," William said to the officer.

"Good. You'll be the partner of a more experienced guard first. I put you patrolling with a lad called Aleksei Virchow, he's waiting for you at the table over there, go greet him now," the officer instructed him and pointed at the young Breton man sitting there.

"Yes, sir," William replied. Before he went to present himself to his comrade, the officer put his hand onto his shoulder.

"Hey, and I'm proud of you, really," He said as he smiled at him.

\---

 

The guard considers that he can do nothing but let the time pass and wait for her to return. It would be for the best to let a powerful mage to take care of that Imperial, indeed; after all, she has single-handedly destroyed two Dark Anchors and slain the Bloodthorn bandits in the castle of Daggerfall, when she and Aleksei saved the King's life. He hears the sounds of explosions coming from the cellar and feels the ground slightly trembling after them; there has to be a full fight going on between her and the Imperial. However, the explosions stop, so the battle is probably over - and when she does not return, he starts to fear that she has lost the fight.

 

Spellweavers are frightening, indeed, since they are so overpowering in fights, throwing dreadful spells around them, and he knows that he could be no match for a wizard - but on the other hand, he would never have believed that he could save the female guard from his brother's insane drunken torment on that fateful day of his life, and yet he had succeeded in that. If there was something he could still do to help her in the site of the battle, he would not hesitate to do it. He could never let his best friend down by leaving his loved one down there alone with that evil wizard now.

He has slowly started to realize that the ignorance has perhaps been the most evil feature in him. He shortly thinks about the skooma addict he met that day and remembers the poor souls that had got addicted to the skooma he sold them in his previous life; back then, he had convinced himself that it was not his problem what they decided to do with their lives. Now he would not let his cowardice prevent him from doing the only thing he considers to be right in the situation.

He goes out of the house and runs to his comrade who is patrolling nearby. "I have to go to the cellar of that abandoned house. If I don't return to you soon, then get reinforcements there, there's probably an evil wizard there but I don't know much about the situation yet. The Hero of Daggerfall is taking care of him - she said that she wants to take care of the problem without anyone distracting her - but I'm starting to fear that something's gone wrong now," he reports him.

"Okay - good luck out there, William, proceed with caution, alright," his comrade replies him.

Before he enters the cellar, he thinks about the two tattoos he has on his forearms: the skull and the heart. The skull has now three lines below it, and so does the heart - the lives he has taken and the lives he has saved are now even.


End file.
